If Elytra had learned anything about how the baithaizans on this world ran things, it was that they loved to stick to a schedule. All through the morning meal, the hours and hours spent in the training sim, there was absolutely no mention made of the matches that were presumably happening at this very moment. The final meal of the day went the same as it had on all the others as well, and it wasn't until socialization time came that anything went a little differently.
Instead of the random scattering of seats that normally awaited them, today all the seating options were lined up and facing one of the walls. Unlike their collar-designated seats in the dining area, they were as free to choose their spots as they normally were during socialization time, so Elytra was free to grab a chair next to Pryseia, for whatever was about to happen. Everyone else fell into their own little cliques, with plenty of empty chairs separating each group, giving them some semblance of privacy as they broke out into quiet conversation with one another.
"What's going on?" Elytra asked, eyeing the guards who all seemed to be hanging around towards the back of the walkways above them, away from where the chairs and benches had all been arranged.
"A teaching moment, I believe." Pryseia began, but before she could say anything else, the lights in the room dimmed, and a display blinked to life on the wall they were all facing. An alien script Elytra couldn't read popped up on screen for a few moments, before being replaced by footage of the arena they'd been forced to fight to the death in.
Only now, there were two bipedal mech standing opposite one another, one with purple blocks of colour across its chassis, the other with green.
The voice of the announcer rang out over the crowd, though they didn't appear within the camera's field of view. The gathered throng in the stands howled jubilantly as the announcer commanded the combatants to fight, and the two mechs hesitantly advanced on one another.
"This is the main drawback of their teaching style," Pryseia whispered to her, eyes locked on the footage before them, "A simulation can only go so far into replicating the feel of piloting any type of machine. See how slowly they move? The physical mass of a mech is more than you expect it to be."
The two machines circled one another, sporadic bursts of gunfire punctuating each step. Though she had about as much experience with mech combat as these two pilots, even Elytra could see every missed opportunity these two novices failed to take.
Not that she could blame them. Being forced to become a mech pilot to fight and die for her abductors was not even remotely in the realm of where she thought she'd end up in her career.
The fight continued on, the two on screen trading halfhearted hits while the crowd in the stands ebbed and flowed with cheers and jeers alike. And next to her, Pryseia kept a running commentary, pointing out where they should have guarded instead of attacked, retreated instead of advanced.
Elytra's eyes kept darting to the back of the walkway, where the guards were all arrayed, watching the match as well. Eventually, she quietly asked, "Shouldn't we be working out our-"
"If there would have been cover to hide behind, that would have been the ideal move," Pryseia interrupted, shooting her a sharp look, "But exposed as they are? That's not the ideal strategy for when you're exposed."
Elytra's teeth clicked together with how quickly she shut her mouth, her eyes once again going to the guards in the back.
Seeing where her eye line was directed, Pryseia then went on, "Pity they're only showing us footage from the one camera. I'm sure the others they have would have better angles to point out the flaws in that maneuver."
Pryseia's pointed look made her unsaid message crystal clear. Even though it didn't look like it, they were still being watched. Elytra glanced around the room, hoping to spot anything telltale enough to give the presences of any surveillance equipment away, but she couldn't find anything amiss in the bland, featureless expanse that she'd been subjected to over the course of her imprisonment.
"You'll want to pay attention to what they're doing," Pryseia added gently, "We'll have a chance to go over all this later."
Elytra nodded, turning her attention to the match displayed before them. Frustration over everything involved in her current situation bubbled just below the surface, but there wasn't anything she could do about it at this time, a realization which did nothing to quell said frustration. She forced herself to pay attention to Pryseia's running commentary, hoping that the wisdom being imparted on her would at least come in handy when her own real match came around, if the escape didn't come before that.
The remainder of socialization time was spent watching the six matches from the day, four purple victories to two green. As their collars led them off to their cells for the night, it was with the knowledge that there would be six less of them the following morning.
It didn't make sleep come any easier.
The morning announcement again came with twelve more prisoners being called to fight, and again neither Elytra nor Pryseia were among that number. Elytra was still divided on whether that was a blessing or a curse.
Another tasteless meal followed by hours in the training simulator, the techniques and strategy being taught more complicated than the day before. With everything being drilled into her, Elytra barely had time to wonder if the extra training would have helped those who were not in the feeding area this morning, would help her when it came time for her own match, the instructor program barking incessant orders in her ear.
The evening meal was followed by another round of watching matches in the socialization area, Pryseia pointing out feats and flaws during every round. She spoke like someone who had taught before, which was just another in a long line of questions Elytra wanted to ask her. She mentally added it to the list she was keeping for when they escaped.
The last match of the day brought the victory count to three for purple and three for green. From what she'd seen at the morning meal, she knew one among them was someone she vaguely knew from the world she grew up on, but she had no idea what mech they'd been in. As they had the entire time they'd had them in captivity, the baithaizans didn't bother to acknowledge the individuals that they had stolen.
Later in her cell that night, on the edge of drifting off to sleep, Elytra couldn't decide if she hated the baithaizans more for the kidnapping or the depersonalization.
The next day, the ninth day in this place, dawned the same as all the others, with a bland announcement and a call for twelve captives to take part in the matches for the day.
And this time, Pryseia was among them.